Man-made rapids (for competition) - any good

Hi,

I live in London and I'm missing the easy access I used to have to all things outdoors when I lived in Canada - the only thing I can find that seems like an adventure sport here is kayaking at the man-made rapids that they made for the Olympics. Anyone know if these are any good (generally, rather than the specific rapids). I've never kayaked before, but I need something more exciting than the pub. If rock gyms are ok when it's raining but indoor skiing is not a substitute for outdoor, where do man-made rapids fall for kayaking (and learning to kayak)?

I paddled some man made rapids at Canoe meadows in Kanninaskis Alberta where I taught a GF to paddle and they were great for teaching some of the basics because all the features were well setup to be good for teaching eddy turns and ferrys, you could drop down and crank a turn behind a rock and take the back eddy up to do it again without getting out of the boat

The Kan is right below a dam so they could turn off the water and go in with a back hoe to make features and the river took a huge bend around the meadow so you end up fairly close to where you put in

They've had entire Olympic kayak/canoe events on man-made rapids, can't be all bad.

and rugby.

Something about the wrinkle in your forehead tells me there's a fit about to get thrown
And I never hear a single word you say when you tell me not to have my fun
It's the same old shit that I ain't gonna take off anyone.
and I never had a shortage of people tryin' to warn me about the dangers I pose to myself.

the Kan had a big runoff event powerful enough to washout all rocks creating the man made rapids/features, they tried to rebuild which should have been easy but they couldn't get the rocks in exactly the right place OR the river bed had changed enough that some of the waves were no longer happening correctly. I duno if they ever got it right again cuz the backhoe time is expensive for a paddling club that was awhile ago

Thanks all for the advice - sounds like it's worth giving a go. Too bad about the washout on the Kan, I remember renting a raft from the UofC outdoor club and floating that when I was in Calgary and it was a great way to check out that area!

Artificial whitewater parks can vary from terrible to a real solid training ground. I attended grad school next to a set of artificial rapids that made for great midweek workouts, and then we would occasionally travel for "real" whitewater. Give it a shot if it interests you.